The true story of the actual construction
of the Tucson presidio and the events surrounding its first decade of existence
are perhaps best told in a petition drawn up by Allande in the form of
a service memoir and sent to the king early in 1786. Allande asks for reassignment
to an easier post in view of an injury and generally failing health. There
were also internal problems and dissension within the Tucson presidio.
The report is actually three documents brought together as one when Jose
Antonio Rengel, commandant general of the northern provinces, sent the
entire dossier to the king. Rengel's covering letter appears first, then
Allande's memoir and petition to the king, and last a preliminary petition
Allande had addressed to Rengel asking for temporary relief. The Allande
military memoir adds a hitherto unconsidered but undeniably important component
to the success of Bernardo de Gálvez' 1786 Apache peace policy,
which anticipated the Apache reservation policy of the United States. Allande's
ruthless warfare against the Apaches disposed them to accept the Gálvez
arrangement of free rations and permanent settlement. General George Crook
would follow the same tactics a century later.

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Chihuahua City.
January 28, 1786.

To THE KING.

The author of the petition and service memoir that follow is Pedro
Allande y Saavedra, commander of the royal presidio of San Agustin
del Tucsón. The valor of this petitioner against the Apaches is
well known and beyond question. He richly deserved the promotion to lieutenant
colonel which Your Majesty afforded him in 1784. His troops, however, have
suffered from his violent disposition, aggravated by his tireless campaigns
and the wound that partially disabled him some time ago. For all of these
reasons, I recommend that Your Majesty grant him a better and easier assignment.

JOSE ANTONIO RENGEL

[no date]

To THE KING.

Pedro de Allande y Saavedra, lieutenant colonel of cavalry and
commander of this royal presidio of San Agustin del Tucsón, calls
to your royal attention, prostrate at the feet of Your Majesty with the
greatest respect and veneration, that he has completed thirty-one years
of service to Your Majesty as cadet, guard-de-corps of the Spanish Company,
lieutenant of the Mexican Dragoons, captain and lieutenant colonel, and
on one occasion general recruiter for both the Spanish Dragoons and the
Mexican Dragoons. He has seen action against the Moors,

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fought in the war against Portugal, and in 1767 came to this province
of Sonora to effect its pacification against rebel Pimas, Seris, and Suaquis.
He penetrated the fastnesses and heights of the Cerro Prieto seven times
and succeeded in routing the enemy each time, killing many and taking prisoners.

Since the day he was appointed captain of this Tucson presidio, February
19, 1777, he has spared no effort to make it a success. He supervised the
building of the walls and the houses of adobe in the two settlements here.
He has been the very first in this area to insist on frequent practice
maneuvers for troops, training them in marksmanship and drilling them both
on horseback and afoot. He surrounded the presidio with a palisade of rough
logs, since it lacked a fortified gate and wall, and erected four baluartes
[bastions] for the guards. He constructed its magazine and guardhouse
and built a fine church at his own expense. All of these building operations
he accomplished without recourse or burden to the royal treasury.

During the year 1778, he conducted an Apache campaign. Troops were scarce,
so he organized a company of Indian allies, maintaining them at his own
expense.

He launched another campaign in the Santa Catalina Mountains in 1779
and was able to destroy two Apache settlements, killing many Apaches and
taking six prisoners. He has paid local Pimas and Papagos, as well as Gila
Pimas, from his own salary, to conduct Apache campaigns on their own. On
November 6, 1779, when the palisade was under construction, he pursued
350 Apaches with only fifteen men. He caught up with them after an extended
chase. Among the Apaches he killed were the brother of Chief Quilché
and another war captain, whose head he cut off before the very eyes of
the enemy. Then he charged the Apache line single-handed, with the head
stuck on his

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lance. The maneuver took the enemy off guard and they stampeded.

On May 1, 1782, 600 Apaches tried to wipe out the two settlements at
Tucson and massacre the entire population. He valiantly defended the presidio
with only twenty troops. Among these was his only son, Pedro Mariá
de Allande, then a cadet but now second ensign of this presidio.

The Apaches were able to commandeer many houses outside the fort. From
these they were able to conduct both their offensive and defensive operations.
They used them as hospitals and carried their dead and wounded into them.

Despite our sentries and the impenetrable outer palisade, the Indians
were able to effect considerable damage with their first assault, mortally
wounding a retired soldier, another soldier, and a settler. They cut into
the right leg of the present petitioner in a number of places, though he
was able to kill two of them with his own hand, even after he was wounded.
Using another soldier as a crutch, he continued his rounds of the stockade
and sentry bastions to direct gunfire so devastating that the enemy was
forced to retire with great losses. One of our Pima women was captured
by the Apaches and later escaped to tell us that the Apaches themselves
admitted that thirty Indians died in that one action.

Though the present petitioner was on the verge of collapse, since a
nerve was severed in one of his wounds, he refused medical attention until
the complete victory was won and the honor of Your Majesty was vindicated.
He received a commendation of valor from our commandant general, the Caballero
de Croix, who promised to bring this to the attention of Your Majesty.

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During the month of December of 1782, a large contingent of Apaches
made off with all of the livestock. The present petitioner launched a campaign,
recovered the livestock and killed ten Apache braves. The soldiers cut
off seven of their heads, as is our custom.

During the month of March of 1783, a campaign brought back two Apache
prisoners. During June of the same year, another campaign killed four Apaches.
During December of the same year, another killed eleven Apache braves,
renowned for their courage, and took nine prisoners between the Santa Teresa
and La Florida Mountains. The action began at three in the afternoon and
lasted into the night. Apache volleys pierced the clothing of the petitioner
and wounded his horse in a number of places.

During January of 1784, he rode out again on campaign. In the valley
of La Florida five braves and four women were killed and twenty-four women
and children were made prisoners. One of our Pima women who had been captured
was recovered. The Apache settlements were destroyed.

On March 21, 1784, a large group of the enemy attacked our horseherd
and carried it off. We recovered it, killing seventeen of their braves.

During the month of April of that same year, the petitioner went out
on another campaign into the mountains of La Florida, Santa Teresa, La
Piedad, Dos Cabezas, and Babocómari. Nine braves were killed, together
with three women and four children, though two children were taken alive.
Many other Apaches were wounded. The Pima woman who testified to the killing
of thirty braves on May 1, 1782, was recovered on this occasion.

During September of the same year, the petitioner led another campaign
up the heights and crags of the

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Arivaipa Mountains, where he killed three women and a witch doctor.

In 1785, during the months of March and April, he conducted a campaign
into the mountains of Babocómari, Peñascosa, Huachuca, Santa
Catalina, and Santa Rita, where he killed eight valiant braves and wounded
many more. The horses and mules stolen from the mining settlement of Cieneguilla
were recovered. The Apache settlements were stripped and their weapons
surrendered. The petitioner killed braves in hand-to-hand combat on this
occasion to inspire his troops. This can be verified in the certified diary,
drawn up by his officers and forwarded to the commandancy general.

In summary, all of the Apache attacks on this presidio have been repulsed
with heavy losses to the enemy. Lines of countless Apache heads have crowned
the palisade. The petitioner has endured untold fatigues in his campaigns.
Then there were the cold nights without a campfire, which has always been
his policy so as more surely to surprise and punish the enemies of Your
Majesty. Often the water was bad and the intense heat of the climate here
has caused him continuous pains in his stomach, at times convincing him
that the end of his life must be near. The wounds in his right leg have
many times swollen and burst, prompting the sympathetic officers of his
campaigns to urge him to turn back. He has never once done so.

For these many reasons, the present petitioner prostrates himself at
the feet of Your Majesty and begs for assignment as governor of Puebla
or some other position in a regiment of cavalry or dragoons where he can
continue his illustrious career with less stress on himself and his family.

PEDRO DE ALLANDE Y SAAVEDRA

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[no date]

TO COMMANDANT GENERAL JOSE ANTONIO RENGEL.

Pedro de Allande y Saavedra, lieutenant colonel of cavalry of
the royal armies and commander of the royal presidio of San Agustin del
Tucsón, calls to your attention with all due respect and veneration
that he has served His Majesty for thirty-two years as cadet, guard-de-corps
of the Spanish Company, lieutenant of the Mexican Dragoons, captain of
this presidio, and lieutenant colonel as his present commission.

In all of the functions mentioned, he has had the honor of fulfilling
all obligations attached. When the generosity of the king distinguished
him as captain of this company and presidio at Tucson, he continued with
this policy of fulfillment of all obligations and endeavored to instill
in its soldiers and settlers the fear of God and a most exact observance
of orders and zeal for the royal service. This policy of his has resulted
in open rebellion. The subjects in question have impugned his very honor
by their conspiracies to live in undue freedom. They have plotted to thrust
him from the presidio, even resorting to threats of violence. He in turn
has had recourse many times to your predecessors to request return to the
regular army, as can be readily verified in the archive of your commandancy
general.

The health of this petitioner is in deplorable condition. The wounds
he received in his right leg on May 1, 1782, in the glorious defense of
this presidio against the Apaches, have rendered impossible his continued
service on this frontier. The New Royal Regulations for Presidios
provides that the king be informed of officers who

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are rendered unfit by ill health, old age and other impediments from
further service on the frontier in order that they be reassigned.

YOUR LORDSHIP ENJOYS VICEREGAL AUTHORITY AND You ARE EMPOWERED TO USE
IT. You can legally remove the petitioner from his present position, pending
the decision of the king, in light of the persecution he is suffering,
the extended family he is supporting, the ill health he is plagued with,
and the outstanding services he has rendered, not least of which were the
building of the church here at his own expense and the construction of
this presidio, which is nearing completion, at no cost whatsoever to the
royal treasury. The petitioner would be satisfied with an administrative
position in government or in the army in any regiment of cavalry or dragoons,
either here or in Spain. Above all, he requests that while His Majesty
resolves this problem, YOU PERMIT HIM TO RETIRE IMMEDIATELY FROM THIS POST
TO AVERT THE Ruin OF HIMSELF AND HIS FAMILY.